In this round we have Paul Fisher of the MPC, who recently said that (our emphasis):

In the near term, whatever the source of the changes in perceptions of permanent income, it is likely that growth will continue to be below the previous trend until more of the real adjustments to balance sheets across the economy have been made. That includes households, the public sector, banks and other businesses.In my view we are maybe two thirds to three quarters of the way through in each case, varying both across and within sectors. There is nothing scientific or ‘official’ in that assessment! It’s just a personal best guess on the back of how the economy is behaving plus some direct knowledge of the progress of the banks with their deleveraging plans.

And he’s up against Citi’s Michael Saunders and Ann O’Kelly who suggest that, no… we aren’t that far along at all. Read more

Kate is FT AV’s Asia Correspondent. She joined FT Alphaville in mid-2011 after carrying out various roles in the FT’s London office since 2005: interactive editor, companies reporter, and founding editor of the FT’s Energy Source blog.

Japanese stocks rebounded after yesterday’s slide, following reports that Japan’s pension fund may boost stock holdings and that the nation’s industrial output expanded faster than estimated last month. The Nikkei rose as high as 2 per cent before flagging later on Friday. The MSCI Asia Pacific was 0.6 per cent higher. (Bloomberg)

Japanese deflation eased slightly, and industrial production rose 1.7% in April; the latter exceeding median forecasts of a Bloomberg survey which pointed to an 0.6% gain. Core consumer prices, which include oil but exclude volatile costs for fresh food, fell 0.4% from a year earlier, matching the Reuters median market forecast and coming in below the Bloomberg consensus of 0.7%. The sixth straight fall was slightly narrower than the 0.5% decline in March. Household spending for April missed expectations, coming in at 1.5% growth year-on-year, compared to expectations of 3.1%, and a 5.2% rise in March. (Bloomberg)(Reuters) Read more

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

Goldman Sachs has hired 350 investment banking summer interns out of 17,000 applications, claiming it has “no problem” attracting talent six years after the financial crisis sparked a series of deep cuts to Wall Street jobs and bonuses.

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

A couple of years ago, we did a long Q&A with Fed staff economist Jeremy Nalewaik about his work on the differences between Gross Domestic Product and Gross Domestic Income.

The two indicators, as you would expect given their theoretical sameness, tend to be nearly identical over a long enough stretch of time. GDI is interesting mainly because Nalewaik had found that its early estimates tend to be revised less over time than are initial estimates of GDP. Read more

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

About that banking union and the aspiration to “break the feedback loop between banks and sovereigns”…

From JP Morgan’s Alex White:

It has been clear for some time that this is not fully achievable in the near term, because of the extent of the institutional journey required (likely including the prospect of Treaty change). For the foreseeable future, Europe’s banks will be left with what Minister Schauble has explicitly referred to as a “timber-framed” Banking Union. This will emphasize that the heavy lifting has to be done at the national level, and will be based around the development of national resolution regimes.

Nikkei slump || European regulators have clashed with the US over the timing derivatives reforms || Google is preparing an attack on Apple’s iPhone || Shuanghui agrees $4.7bn deal for Smithfield Foods || Panasonic said it would cut about 5,000 workers || Fiat is in talks for as much as $10 billion in financing to buy rest of Chrysler || Ryanair faces regulatory pressure to sell stake in Aer Lingus || EU agrees to end decades of overfishing || Berkshire Hathaway on Wednesday agreed to buy NV Energy || Blackstone is weighing a bigger than expected withdrawal from SAC Capital || Switzerland has taken a decisive step to resolve its dispute with the US over tax evasion || Brazil’s central bank tightened interest rates 50bps || Markets roundup || FTAV’s latest Read more

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

Kate is FT AV’s Asia Correspondent. She joined FT Alphaville in mid-2011 after carrying out various roles in the FT’s London office since 2005: interactive editor, companies reporter, and founding editor of the FT’s Energy Source blog.

Asian stocks fell, with the Nikkei declining more than 3% and the yen trading around 101.2, close to a three-week high. The MSCI Asia Pacific was down 1.4% and the Kospi moved between gains and losses. The Hong Kong IPO of Langham Hospitality Investments saw the shares slump 9.2%. (Bloomberg)

European regulators have clashed with the US over the timing derivatives reforms, in a letter urging further delays to “cross border guidance”, which would which would outline how the US would keep tabs on banks and hedge funds whose international swap trading could have a direct impact on the US economy. The European Commission in a letter sent on Tuesday urged the CFTC to extend an exemption for foreign market participants until leaders of the Group of 20 countries have agreed international principles on cross-border swap rules. (Financial Times) Read more

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).

FT Alphaville attended the Sifma collateral conference last week. We found these slides, used by Greg Lyons of Debevoise & Plimpton, to be a very useful explainer of upcoming regulatory reforms (click to open pdf):

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

We’re glad we kept a screenshot of this moment in stock-market history:

It (ultimately) landed Nasdaq with a $10m fine — the biggest ever for an exchange — and serious egg on its face on Wednesday, after a settlement with the SEC over securities law charges relating to Facebook’s botched IPO. From the release: Read more

Joseph joined FT Alphaville way back in March 2010. He likes all the politically and legally fiddly bits of finance. He also likes credit, rates, global macro, tail risk, and all that stuff. (You should email him story ideas. He’ll take anything.)

Kate is FT AV’s Asia Correspondent. She joined FT Alphaville in mid-2011 after carrying out various roles in the FT’s London office since 2005: interactive editor, companies reporter, and founding editor of the FT’s Energy Source blog.

China needs growth of about 7 percent to double per capita gross domestic product by 2020 from the level in 2010, Li said yesterday in Berlin after meeting with Chancellor Angela Merkel during his first trip abroad as premier.

Although China has a formal target of 7.5 per cent growth for this year, and that was still kind-of-maybe assumed to be the ongoing target figure for the next few years, no-one was hugely surprised at the declaration of a 7 per cent target.

Anyway, the IMF’s forecasting types have decided it might be time to stop clinging to hopes of 8 per cent Chinese growth this year (and 8.2 per cent next year). They cut forecasts for both 2013 and 2014 to 7.75 per cent. Read more

Kate is FT AV’s Asia Correspondent. She joined FT Alphaville in mid-2011 after carrying out various roles in the FT’s London office since 2005: interactive editor, companies reporter, and founding editor of the FT’s Energy Source blog.

Cardiff writes mostly about US macroeconomic issues, with daily excursions into other topics about which he claim no expertise. Before Alphaville, Cardiff spent a little more than two years as a reporter at Dow Jones Financial News covering investment banking, asset management, and private equity. Along the way he has written freelance pieces on a variety of other topics from behavioural psychology to Muay Thai, the latter also being a personal interest that involves frequently getting kicked in the shins (and torso, and head).